Bay View Library

I love that this library is 2 blocks from my home. I love that this library has incredibly helpful staff. The day I needed to use their printing system, an employee walked me through every step and then checked on me later to make sure I had everything I needed. I haven’t experienced this kind of personal attention in a library since the 5^th grade. Much appreciated! I also love how many kids and families I see in here — this library is a true community resource. It also used to be my polling place.
The layout is well organized, resources are clearly labeled, and it’s easy to maneuver quickly or linger, as my schedule allows. The free wifi is also sufficient for getting work done undisturbed.
I wish there were a slightly larger collection of books, to be honest — when I come in to browse, I always leave satisfied, but when I have a particular book in mind, I rarely find it on the shelves. The interlibrary loan system works well, and I could stand to be more proactive, but I do wish they would invest in higher shelves and MORE books!

oops… who knew the «bay» and «view» would be separate words in the entry for this library. This might explain why my phone couldn’t find originally this place when trying to check in.
So the MPL system is pretty good about transferring things from branch to branch. You go into the computer and use your library card number, a PIN you create, and you can request away to have things from other branches sent to your branch of choice. I usually go to the east library, and since I only generally make it on weekends, I’m ok requesting on a Saturday and not being able to get my stuff until the next weekend.
Buuuut.sometimes you’ve started reading a series of mysteries and just must get your hands on the next in the series. And as I’ve noticed with almost every book I’ve wanted to read, it’s only available at Bayview (or the Central library. Is this the universe’s way of telling me I should be living in Bayview or downtown?)
Transcendental questions aside, I remembered passing the Bayview library branch about 5379 times (estimate) last summer as its located on bustling KK ave., past Colectivo but before Hi-​Fi Café. I decided to just trek over to Bayview and save everyone the trouble of moving books across town.
This is a cute little brick, glass and silver-​ish building on KK. It was pretty packed with materials and was quite busy while I was there. They had the self checkouts, which I also (not going to say what branch at, now) have been loudly informed I was using incorrectly. Its not that hard to use once you get used to it.
Overall its a nice little centrally located library in the heart of Bayview.
My big caveat about this branch? The bike parking posts were sort of rusty and difficult to fangle my ulock around. Just sayin.

I recently moved to Bay View (and by recently I mean in August, so months ago…) and was excited to really be a part of Milwaukee’s exciting culture (since being a college student at Marquette basically made that hard for me). First step to adulthood? Get your own apartment. Step two? Get involved in the community and I chose to do that by way of utilizing the BV Library and it’s resources. The staff are über friendly, have always been helpful and patient with me and how overly excited I get about books. I didn’t want to buy a new set of LSAT test prep books and they ordered it from another library for me, they were in my hands by the next week! I love these guys and genuinely appreciate the work they do for our neighborhood!

I love this little library nestled in Bay View. If you request something for them to buy, they will most likely do it. They have all sorts of activities at the library for all ages. The staff has always been nice. Great for getting some work accomplished or just enjoying a book. Great selection!
It is also close to a laundromat which is rather convenient.

Cool little library nestled in the heart of Bay View.
This is yet another south side library with some interesting architecture. I love the look of this unique building, and with all of its windows it’s a great place to read on a sunny day.
The book selection is decent here. The DVD selection is really good with a lot of newer stuff, however with its bins that you have to flip through one by one, its almost impossible to find anything you’re looking for. They put the A’s with A’s, B’s with B’s, etc., but they are just thrown into the bin without being alphabetized. This is a pet peeve of mine. Can we get some more adequate shelves and somebody to alphabetize please!
Outside of that, customer service is about on par with any other city of Milwaukee library. It’s not that bad, but at the same time they’re not going out of their way to help you.
Worth a trip if you’re in the area, but not worth going out of your way for.

Ample table space, strong wifi, and a great high ceilings — a great space for the Karl Marx lurking in your soul to read, write, and think. I do a lot of writing and need a place like this and am happy that the excellent Bay View library makes it happen.
Here’s to public investment in public libraries!
Now, Milwaukee, build one in the 5^th Ward or Walker’s Square please!

I make heavy use of the MPL system and this review is specific to the Bay View branch. I really dislike this branch, but it’s close to where we live, so I mainly use it just to pick up books on hold.
The bullet list:
* Surly staff
* Small selection of books and periodicals actually at this branch
* Books on hold take forever to show up and are IN TRANSIT for a long time
* Not a comfy place to spend time /​no good furniture
The staff is very surly /​unfriendly here. It’s made worse by the new philosophy of making patrons do their jobs. Similar to the grocery store self checkouts not working well, neither does the self check out /​check in. The system is awkward, slow, and patrons seem to take the brunt of the employees frustration.
I just can’t believe how rude the library staff are to the public.
As an example. The new book return jammed up. I couldn’t get it open to accept the rest of my books, so I went inside to return the rest of my books. I had to argue with the lady working the counter to take my books I was attempting to return.
I have watched people go through the self check out and then get yelled at because the alarm went off. As near as I can tell they followed what they were told to do. It’s not their fault that the system didn’t turn off the book alarm thing.
Why is the staff yelling at people?